Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Zhang Wenwu looked at Li Zhengying who had challenged him to a battle, and then thought for a moment before saying, "Captain Li, you should take your men to guard this tunnel first, and let the brothers have a good rest. It's not time for you to go into battle yet."

Zhang Wenwu felt that more than half of Hongcheng's urban area was still in his hands, and the Japanese army's spirit and physical strength had not yet reached the level of exhaustion, so now was not a good time to send out the special forces battalion.

When Li Zhengying saw that Zhang Wenwu had no intention of sending the special forces battalion into battle, he wanted to try harder. Seeing that other troops were fighting fiercely with the Japanese army while his own officers and soldiers were staying behind, he felt very uncomfortable.

But when he was about to continue speaking, he heard Chief of Staff Ouyang Heng say: "Captain Li, you have your battles to fight. The division commander wants to put you on the mission at a critical moment. You just need to organize the troops now. When the time comes, you must not let down the team."

When Li Zhengying heard what the chief of staff said, he knew that he would not be able to receive the mission to go to battle today, so he quickly promised: "Please rest assured, division commander and chief of staff, I will definitely train those people to be obedient and ensure that they will complete the mission assigned by the superiors when the time comes."

After Li Zhengying left, Ouyang Heng said to Zhang Wenwu: "Division Commander, the morale of this unit is very high. In fact, I think we can have the special forces battalion send some officers and soldiers to fight in the rear of the Japanese army in a few days. Otherwise, those officers and soldiers will get upset, haha."

Ouyang Heng felt that at the current speed of the Japanese army's advance, the area occupied by the Japanese army would be enough for some officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion to operate in two days. By then, it would be time to send the special forces battalion to cause trouble in the rear of the Japanese army.

Zhang Wenwu looked at the urban map of Hongcheng, which marked the urban area occupied by the Japanese army. He did not answer Ouyang Heng's words, but suddenly asked Ouyang Heng without thinking: "Brother Ouyang, do you want to gamble big?"

Ouyang Heng was also stunned when he heard Zhang Wenwu's sudden question. He didn't know what Zhang Wenwu meant by this. What was the bet? So he walked to Zhang Wenwu and asked in confusion: "Master, have you thought of something? What is the bet?"

Zhang Wenwu raised his head and said with a smile: "Brother Ouyang, do you think that if we can destroy Ito Masaki's headquarters, will it be a big surprise for the Japanese army? We can't waste such a good tunnel."

After hearing what Zhang Wenwu said, Ouyang Heng was also stunned. He didn't expect Zhang Wenwu's appetite to be so big. He expected that Zhang Wenwu might make something of the newly discovered tunnel out of the city, but he didn't expect Zhang Wenwu to set such a big goal. This was too crazy.

After being stunned for a few seconds, Ouyang Heng finally reacted. If they could really destroy the headquarters of the 101st Division as Zhang Wenwu had planned, it would greatly slow down the Japanese offensive speed.

"Division Commander, are you planning to send the special forces battalion to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese headquarters? How are you going to fight?" Ouyang Heng's interest suddenly piqued, and Zhang Wenwu's bold idea also made him excited.

Zhang Wenwu looked at the excited Ouyang Heng and said, "Brother Ouyang, I plan to let Li Zhengying take the officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion to sneak out of the city through the tunnel tomorrow night, and then search and advance from the north. If we are in the city, we can slowly give up some positions during the day to lure the Japanese army deeper. I think the Japanese army will definitely attack with all their strength tomorrow. They need to rescue all the Japanese soldiers in the tanks that fell into the trap. We will use the traps that the Japanese tanks fell into as bait to attract as many Japanese troops as possible to the battle in the city. At night, we will organize a large-scale night attack and counterattack to delay the Japanese troops in the city, and the special forces battalion outside the city will take advantage of this time to launch a night attack on the Japanese headquarters."

After listening to Zhang Wenwu's idea, Ouyang Heng fell into deep thought. The difficulty of this plan lies in whether Li Zhengying's special forces battalion can find the headquarters of the Japanese 101st Division on time and launch an attack on the Japanese headquarters within the specified time. If their timing is not coordinated with the counterattack time of the troops in the city, the officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion will be in danger.

In addition, the officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion needed to advance stealthily and find the Japanese army's headquarters. If they encountered an exchange of fire with the Japanese army's patrol guard forces in advance on the way, the officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion would also face the risk of being surrounded by the Japanese army.

Ouyang Heng also began to deduce Zhang Wenwu's operational thinking in his mind. As the chief of staff of the army, he needed to detail the chief officer's tactical thinking.

Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, Chief of Staff of the 101st Division, came to the city at night. He called the two brigade commanders in charge of the offensive command and conveyed to them the latest orders from the division commander. He also told the two brigade commanders that he would stay in the city to assist in guiding the offensive forces until he completed the tasks assigned by the division commander.

Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka, commander of the 101st Regiment, and Colonel Yukizo Hasegawa, commander of the 103rd Regiment, knew very well that the Chief of Staff, Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, had come to the city to supervise the battle on behalf of the division commander. It seemed that the division commander was very dissatisfied with the speed and progress of his troops' previous attacks.

The next morning, the Japanese army once again organized multiple "vanguard teams" to attack the positions of the New 100th Division on various streets. After resisting for a while, the frontline officers of the New 100th Division gradually withdrew to the rear in accordance with the orders they had received before.

The active retreat of the new 100th Division also gave the Japanese officers and soldiers a sense of déjà vu. Yes, the Chinese army also took the initiative to retreat yesterday, luring themselves into a trap and attacking.

Therefore, the Japanese front-line officers had to order all Japanese troops to search and attack carefully forward, and to ensure the safety of the surroundings before attacking forward, so as to avoid being ambushed by the Chinese army again.

Seeing how cautious the Japanese army was, the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division slowed down their retreat. The order they received was to guard the Japanese tank trap and prevent the Japanese infantry from rescuing the Japanese soldiers in the tanks. The final destination of today's retreat was the front line of the Japanese tank trap.

Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, the division chief of staff who was supervising the battle from behind, shook his head at the cautious attack of the front-line troops. When did the heroic warriors of the Empire of Japan become so slow and cautious in their attacks? The Japanese Army had completely lost the courage to charge fiercely, which showed how low the morale of the front-line troops was now.

But he had no good way to solve this situation. Major General Nishiyama Fukutaro now hoped that the troops of the 9th Division would come to Hongcheng. Perhaps when the officers and soldiers saw those officers and soldiers of the 9th Division, their courage and morale would be fully aroused.

The troops of the 9th Division that Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama wanted were now preparing to turn around and return to Ruichang under the leadership of the division commander Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke received a telegram from Commander Okamura Yasuji of the 106th Army last night. In the telegram, Commander Okamura first praised his 106th Brigade for its proactive assistance in the 101th Division's attack, which allowed the th Division's current attack line to advance a long way. Then, Commander Okamura mentioned in the telegram tactfully that he had led the troops south to Hongcheng without authorization, which would cause certain troubles to the st Division that was attacking Hongcheng, and asked him to take his troops back to Ruichang to have a good rest.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito of the 101st Division also sent himself a telegram of thanks full of jealousy. In the telegram, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito first expressed his gratitude to the 101th Division for taking the initiative to go south to help attack Hongcheng, and then mentioned that his 101st Division's current attack was progressing very well, and the troops had occupied almost half of Hongcheng's urban area. He also said that if the th Division came to Hongcheng, the troops of the two divisions would not be able to deploy in Hongcheng. The meaning was very clear, Hongcheng was enough with the st Division, and the th Division should go back to where it came from.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke curled his lips when looking at the telegram from Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi. He felt that Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi of the 101st Division was just pretending to be stubborn. Your 101st Division lost so many senior officers on the first day of the attack, so the losses of the soldiers below must have been even greater. After fighting for so many days, you have only occupied less than half of the territory of Hongcheng city. You still have the nerve to say that the 101st Division's offensive is progressing very well. You are really a typical example of someone who is trying to brag.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke also understood that leading his troops south to attack Hongcheng was a bit of an insult to the 101st Division and Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi, but he also wanted to quickly assist the 101st Division in occupying Hongcheng as soon as possible, otherwise his th Division could only wait in Ruichang, and his own division could not stubbornly attack deep into the west alone.

Now Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, leading the 18th Brigade of the 9th Division, has arrived in Yongxiu. He looked at the map on the table, then at the two telegrams in his hand. After thinking for a long time, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke shook his head. He called the commander of the 18th Brigade, Major General Iishima Nobutoki, over and ordered the troops to stop advancing towards Hongcheng. The entire army should be ready to turn back to Ruichang tomorrow.

There was no way. He could ignore the telegram from the 101st Division, but he still had to obey the telegram from Commander Okamura Yasuji. His own troops were now under the jurisdiction of the th Army. If he did not give face to Commander Okamura Yasuji, he would surely suffer in the future.

The attack force of the 101st Division in Hongcheng cautiously pushed the attack line to the vicinity of yesterday's tank trap until three o'clock in the afternoon. This result was achieved only when the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division took the initiative to slowly abandon their positions.

Chief of Staff Fukutaro Nishiyama heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the troops had finally arrived at the designated combat mission area. He had already lost his temper with the two responsible brigade commanders at noon, accusing them of attacking too slowly, but the two brigade commanders also complained to him.

Now, the battle line has finally been pushed to the vicinity of the tank trap. As long as the troops work harder and rescue the tank officers and soldiers scattered in the street traps today, I will be able to give an explanation to the division commander.